The Day when the IF became the WHEN!!!
As most of the UK woke up this morning, we were all still celebrating the Olympic bid victory over the snobbish French. Who the heck is Jacques Chirac to criticise British food when they, the french eat frogs and snails?
7:30 a.m: I had an early start and left home to head to Cumbernauld in Scotland for a meeting. The G8 summit at Glen Eagles was starting today and my meeting was barely 15 miles away from the place. To be honest, I was quite apprehensive that something could happen near the summit.
8:40 a.m: Rick and I stopped for coffee at a services and bought a paper discussing the Olympic victory.
9:30 a.m: We were listening to Green Day on a CD in the car, oblivious to events unfolding elsewhere in the country.
10:20 a.m: Rick's mum called him on his cell phone and asked him if he heard the news about the bomb blast on the radio. Bomb blast? What bomb blast? We switched on the radio and tuned into Radio 1. Elton John was playing. Radio 2. Ken Bruce was having his daily radio quiz. Radio 4. Some celebrity chat. Classic fm: Beethoven. We flipped through all the channels and nothing about any bomb blast. Was she serious? Old lady might have been listening to a radio drama on some channel. Forget it. We tuned back to Radio 2 to listen to music.
11:00 a.m: The news. London's Transport network has had some "major incidents" and the tube stations and railways have been shut down. All bus services in Central London has been stopped. It was speculated that a "power surge" may have blown a few transformers causing the "loud bangs". What the fuck? Three buses were also blown up. Power surges can't blow up buses. Bloody terrorists, we assumed. The London Metropolitan police refused to speculate on the cause and denied that it could be a terrorist attack at that point. We looked at each other and said "Yeah right! Bollocks! Fuckin terrorists! Please, anyone but Al Quaeeda again. I'm sick and tired of hearing about them." Back to Cold Play.
11:15 a.m: The news. The London Metropolitan Deputy Assistant Commissioner makes a statement said that it "could be" terrorists but he would not confirm it. He asked the media not to speculate the cause and cause panic. They're defenitely trying to calm down people. THIS IS BIG. REAL BIG.
12:00 p.m: The Prime Minister addresses the nation from Glen Eagles. He confirmed that it was terrorists. Tony Blair was at his best. He gave me goose bumps. He said he was going to leave the G8 summit and go down to London. He said that No One would change the way we live. We will Prevail. THEY will NOT. My hair on the back of my neck tingled. Fuckin Bush had run away to his ranch on 9/11.
News kept flowing in and the number of dead increased slowly. It stands at 33 dead now. I'm sure many more are dead. But what has made me puff up with pride about living in this country is the way that the people have been brave. There wasn't mad hysterical panic. People stayed calm and organized. All the major hospitals were swamped and people who were in the hospital previously for minor injuries, vacated their beds to make space for the injured. There was a building site near one of the hospitals and all the builders came to the hospital and volunteered to donate blood. One of the buses blew up near the British Medial Association building and all the doctors came out and organised the emergency services. Countless lives were saved as a result. The Muslim Council released a statement supporting the British government and condemning this act of violence. It urged Muslim Londoners to help out at the bomb sites and show solidarity. The mobile phone networks were swamped. Slowly but surely, the police and the emergency services have controlled traffic and crowds. Roads are being re-opened and stations have started their services.
Britain has come back up on its feet. We have persevered. Life will go on. Its only at moments like this that you realise how good most people are. You appreciate the kindness that you receive very day. We will survive.
7:30 a.m: I had an early start and left home to head to Cumbernauld in Scotland for a meeting. The G8 summit at Glen Eagles was starting today and my meeting was barely 15 miles away from the place. To be honest, I was quite apprehensive that something could happen near the summit.
8:40 a.m: Rick and I stopped for coffee at a services and bought a paper discussing the Olympic victory.
9:30 a.m: We were listening to Green Day on a CD in the car, oblivious to events unfolding elsewhere in the country.
10:20 a.m: Rick's mum called him on his cell phone and asked him if he heard the news about the bomb blast on the radio. Bomb blast? What bomb blast? We switched on the radio and tuned into Radio 1. Elton John was playing. Radio 2. Ken Bruce was having his daily radio quiz. Radio 4. Some celebrity chat. Classic fm: Beethoven. We flipped through all the channels and nothing about any bomb blast. Was she serious? Old lady might have been listening to a radio drama on some channel. Forget it. We tuned back to Radio 2 to listen to music.
11:00 a.m: The news. London's Transport network has had some "major incidents" and the tube stations and railways have been shut down. All bus services in Central London has been stopped. It was speculated that a "power surge" may have blown a few transformers causing the "loud bangs". What the fuck? Three buses were also blown up. Power surges can't blow up buses. Bloody terrorists, we assumed. The London Metropolitan police refused to speculate on the cause and denied that it could be a terrorist attack at that point. We looked at each other and said "Yeah right! Bollocks! Fuckin terrorists! Please, anyone but Al Quaeeda again. I'm sick and tired of hearing about them." Back to Cold Play.
11:15 a.m: The news. The London Metropolitan Deputy Assistant Commissioner makes a statement said that it "could be" terrorists but he would not confirm it. He asked the media not to speculate the cause and cause panic. They're defenitely trying to calm down people. THIS IS BIG. REAL BIG.
12:00 p.m: The Prime Minister addresses the nation from Glen Eagles. He confirmed that it was terrorists. Tony Blair was at his best. He gave me goose bumps. He said he was going to leave the G8 summit and go down to London. He said that No One would change the way we live. We will Prevail. THEY will NOT. My hair on the back of my neck tingled. Fuckin Bush had run away to his ranch on 9/11.
News kept flowing in and the number of dead increased slowly. It stands at 33 dead now. I'm sure many more are dead. But what has made me puff up with pride about living in this country is the way that the people have been brave. There wasn't mad hysterical panic. People stayed calm and organized. All the major hospitals were swamped and people who were in the hospital previously for minor injuries, vacated their beds to make space for the injured. There was a building site near one of the hospitals and all the builders came to the hospital and volunteered to donate blood. One of the buses blew up near the British Medial Association building and all the doctors came out and organised the emergency services. Countless lives were saved as a result. The Muslim Council released a statement supporting the British government and condemning this act of violence. It urged Muslim Londoners to help out at the bomb sites and show solidarity. The mobile phone networks were swamped. Slowly but surely, the police and the emergency services have controlled traffic and crowds. Roads are being re-opened and stations have started their services.
Britain has come back up on its feet. We have persevered. Life will go on. Its only at moments like this that you realise how good most people are. You appreciate the kindness that you receive very day. We will survive.
posted by TinTin @ 6:12 pm
2 Comments:
Aiyyo- dont die on me! And so soon!
We. Indian. Trivandrum. Jagathy. Poojapura. Do you remember at all?
Not we. Britain. Scotland. Prime Minister(though we have one here too).
I forgot to say this the first time. Hence the second comment.
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